This invention relates to a cooling apparatus equipped with a heat sink or a heat sink-equipped cooling apparatus which is adapted to directly or indirectly cool an electronic component such as an MPU or the like, and more particularly to a cooling apparatus for positively cooling a heat sink by means of air fed from a fan unit.
An electronic component cooling apparatus which includes a combination of a heat sink and a fan unit has been conventionally known in the art as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,910,694, 5,615,998 or the like.
Typically, a conventional electronic component cooling apparatus is so constructed that air discharged from a fan unit and heated by thermal energy dissipated from radiation fins is exhausted in all directions from a whole periphery of a heat sink, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,998 or the like.
Whereas, U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,694 discloses a cooling apparatus configured so as to discharge air from one side of a heat sink, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 of the patent.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,998 and U.S. Design Pat. No. 403,760 each disclose an electronic component cooling apparatus including an engagement structure which permits engagement between a plurality of engaging sections provided on a casing of a fan unit and a plurality of engaged sections provided on a heat sink by merely approaching the casing of the fan unit to the heat sink.
In the cooling apparatus including the heat sink disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,694 described above, the heat sink includes a base formed into a substantially rectangular shape. The cooling apparatus includes an air discharge port arranged in a manner to positionally correspond to one side of the heat sink. The direction in which the air discharge port is arranged is limited in view of the case that parts which do not like to be exposed to hot air are arranged around a cooling apparatus, the case that hot air is discharged to an outside of a casing of an electronic equipment, or the like.
However, such a conventional structure fails to increase a size of the air discharge port, to thereby increase the amount of air discharged. Also, it substantially fails to reduce a size of the base of the heat sink, to thereby compactly configure the cooling apparatus.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing disadvantage of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heat sink-equipped cooling apparatus which is capable of significantly increase a size of an air discharge port, as compared with the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a heat sink-equipped cooling apparatus which is capable of reducing a size of a base of a heat sink as compared with the prior art.
In accordance with the present invention, a cooling apparatus is provided. The cooling apparatus includes a heat sink including a base formed into a contour having a plurality of sides which include a first side and a second side defined so that an angle therebetween is about 90 degrees. The base also includes a side wall defined so as to be raised from the base and continuously extend along at least the first and second sides. The cooling apparatus also includes a fan unit mounted on the heat sink while being arranged on a side of the heat sink on which the side wall is raised. The heat sink may be provided with radiation fins as desired.
The fan unit includes an impeller provided with a plurality of blades, a motor including a housing, a revolving shaft and a rotor fixed on the revolving shaft and arranged so as to rotate the impeller mounted on the rotor, a casing provided with an opening in which the impeller and motor are received, and a plurality of webs for connecting the housing of the motor and the casing to each other therethrough so as to position the motor at a central portion of the opening.
The side wall of the heat sink and the casing of the fan unit cooperate with each other to provide an air discharge port at a position corresponding to at least one side of the base opposite to the first and second sides while being combined with each other. The air discharge port is constructed so as to permit air sucked through the opening to be discharged therethrough.
The above-described construction of the present invention, when the base is configured into a substantially rectangular shape, permits the air discharge port to be formed at a position corresponding to other two sides opposite to the first and second sides, so that the air discharge port may be increased in size as compared with the prior art.
Also, the above-described construction of the present invention, when the air discharge port is arranged at a position corresponding to one side, permits each of the first and second sides to be arranged at a position opposite to the air discharge port, so that the heat sink may be configured at a portion thereof at which the first and second sides are positioned into a reduced size.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the contour of the base has third and fourth sides defined on a side of the air discharge port and arranged adjacent to the first and second sides, respectively, and the side wall is integrally provided with a pair of extensions so as to respectively extend along the third and fourth sides. This permits a size of the air discharge port to be determined as desired by forming each of the extensions into a desired length and a desired configuration.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the extensions each are formed with an held portion and the casing is integrally provided with a pair of hooks each held in the held portion. This permits the fan unit to be fixed on the heat sink by merely holding the hooks in the held portions.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the base of the heat sink has a fifth side defined so as to be contiguous to the first and second sides, to thereby connect the first and second sides to each other therethrough. This permits a configuration of the base to be further reduced.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the base has a sixth side and a seventh side defined so as to be respectively contiguous to the third and fourth sides and permit an angle between the first side and the second side to be about 90 degrees. This permits the air discharge port to be arranged at a position corresponding to the sixth and seventh sides, resulting in a size of the air discharge port being about twice as large as that of the prior art.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the contour of the base has a sixth side defined so as to be contiguous to the third and fourth sides and extend substantially in parallel to the fifth side. Such construction permits the air discharge port to be arranged at a position corresponding to the six side. This results in a configuration of the base and a side thereof to be reduced as compared with the prior art.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the casing of the fan unit is formed into substantially the same contour as the contour of the base, resulting in having first to fifth sides corresponding to the first to fifth sides of the base. One of the webs is formed so as to extend toward the fifth side of the casing. The one web has a conductor for feeding of electric power to said motor received therein. Such configuration permits the conductor to be led out of a side opposite to the air discharge port, to thereby facilitate mounting the cooling apparatus in a casing of an electronic equipment.